Sunday, 22 January 2012

The Genius Of Hammer

Vampire teeth or zombie eyes?

Or perhaps a Rasputin beard (for guys and gals alike).

Hammer enthusiasts will know that they were expert at economics and exploitation. As mentioned last weekend, 'The Reptile' and 'Plague Of The Zombies' were filmed back to back at Bray Studios in July 1965 using the same sets and crew, but noticeably different camera angles and set ups (Hammer were never hacks).

Once these productions had wrapped, the studio had a quick change around, new actors were brought in and 'Dracula, Prince of Darkness' and 'Rasputin, The Mad Monk' were made in the same circumstances. Four films for (almost) the price of two.

These were then cross-matched and double billed as per the posters above to ensure that audiences watching the films didn't notice the similarities, and cheap but eye-catching gimmicks were employed to put bottoms on seats: simple, productive, effective, cheap, genius.